GAT Soup Kitchen

Support us restrain loneliness

Homeless and uncertain people face isolation every day. Your donation is key to supporting Britain’s most people find care.

Donate at globalaid.org.uk or call 02074227551

The number of homeless people has increased to 169% in England since 2010. It is estimated that 4,751 people bedded down outside overnight in 2017. London has seen a sharp increase in numbers and in 2017, the figure rose by 18%, which is a nearly quarter of all rough sleepers.

Among the London boroughs, Camden saw a 647 % increase, according a government figures. The number of rough sleepers rose to 127 in 2017 from just 17 in 2016.

In the north-west of England, the number of rough sleepers almost doubled over the past two years. The key areas in that region included Tameside, Salford and Manchester. There had been a constant increase in the areas of the south. Thanet, Oxford, Southend-on-Sea, Medway, Eastbourne, Swindon, Hastings, Worthing, Peterborough, Reading and Wiltshire recorded rises of at least double the national average.

Rough sleepers are the people sleeping in tents, bus, doorways, parks, barns, sheds, shelters, cars and other places not designed for habitation. It does not include people who are in hostels or shelters. There are many reasons for the increased number of rough sleepers. The welfare reform, soaring rents, reduction in the permitted housing benefit payments is just the few.

This increase is causing huge pressure on mental health services, which means the vulnerable people are not getting the support they need. Services like drug and alcohol addiction are struggling financially. Over the past five years, the number of people seeking housing help who have mental health problems had more than doubled.

Apart from the adults, the number of homeless children is increasing as well. According to the Independent, nearly 130,000 children in Britain woke up homeless and in temporary accommodation in December 2017 as child homelessness reaches a 10-year high. One in every 111 children is currently homeless in the UK, with at least 140 families becoming homeless every day. In England, where the highest numbers of families are placed into B&Bs, 45 percent stays beyond the six-week legal limit.

Global Aid had been helping homeless people for number of years. It launched Soup Kitchen project in 2016 for the homeless people of East London. It is an ongoing project and so far it has catered for nearly 350 people. It aims to increase the capacity of this project as a priority in order to address the growing number. It also aims to partner with local government and other bodies.

As the number of homeless people is in sharp increase, we want you to be by our side. We need your help, support and donation in order to address the most vulnerable people of Britain.